I actually feel sorry for this person. It sounds as of they're getting properly fucked by bureaucracy and ended up in SovCit while looking for a solution, as opposed to starting there and causing their own problems. They're not trying to
- Not have a driver's license
- Cancel a debt
- Repudiate contracts or documents
They're just trying to have a car. At worst, they're simply kind of dumb for not having things lined up, but there were times in my life when I was just as discombobulated.
I agree. This poor schlub did a Google search ("no license or birth certificate") and a bunch of sovcit pages popped up. It's an example of why this shit is toxic to people in general.
Yeah, this feels like we are seeing an otherwise normal person in an unfortunate situation waiting at the bus stop to crazy town.
I've never been in such a situation, so I'm genuinely curious how this plays out. Can they really say this after all the paperwork has been signed? Isn't this something they should have checked before selling him the car or approving the loan? Is this actually his problem or is he getting bullied by the lender?
The sale contract with the dealership probably has some language like "contingent on final approval from the loan company," and the lender probably has their own rules about only approving loans for people with a valid driver's license. The dealership should know those rules, but I think this person is getting caught in the very unfortunate but definitely real bureaucratic nightmare where it's often your own responsibility to know that someone who you believe knows the rules better than you is wrong.
That said, everything up to the last few sentences sounds like they're trying to do things the right way, but if they try using One Weird Trick(tm) to keep possession of the car they're probably going to cause much bigger problems for their future self.
I actually feel sorry for this person. It sounds as of they’re getting properly fucked by bureaucracy
I don't think its that so much as a lack of "adulting". I'm seeing a number of "adulting" failures:
- Drivers licenses very typically expire every 4 to 8 years and on a persons birthday in many states (looks like the case in Georgia and maybe in Colorado too). This person waited to renew 2 days before it expired after moving to a completely different state.
- They don't have a copy of their own birth certificate readily available.
- They just bought a new car.
None of these by themselves is a huge problem, but part of adulting is recognizing that things regularly don't go as they should and you need to have extra time to account for this. If the person didn't have an immediate need for their birth certificate waiting 16 to 18 weeks is not a problem at all. If this person had gone to renew their drivers license (in their new state!) months before it expired this still wouldn't have been a problem. If this person had done both of the above when they bought the new car, they'd already have hand their new driver's license and this wouldn't be a problem either.
This isn't being fucked by bureaucracy, this is possibly a learning moment for young adult to learn about getting things done as an adult.
Yeah, they made a lot of mistakes. However, it's possible that this will significantly impact their lives, leaving them with no ability to retain their job, shop, or otherwise function in our auto-centric city plans. It doesn't sound like anyone in the bureaucracy is giving them an even temporary work around. Everyone makes mistakes; a good system provides options to help people fix their mistakes. Good systems don't make people wait 4-5 months for essential documents; that's crappy bureaucracy. And then requiring on the other end those documents, with no other recourse for other options, that's shitty bureaucracy too. It's stuff like this that makes people hate bureaucracy. Having experiences like this, where some small mistakes resulting from ignorance and harming no-one could cost you your job, is what radicalizes people.
But, my main point was that this sounds like someone who stumbled onto SovCit while trying to find a fix for their mess, rather than the usual SovCit causing their own problems through idiocy.
I wonder if they're aware of the required proof of residence or will that come as the next surprise?
Kinda weird Georgia requires a full Birth Certificate for a Driver's License and doesn't take another state's at least provisionally.
